Rahasya

Summary: Throughout the Tome Series, friends have been lost and enemies made. When life is snuffed out ahead of its time, those left behind carry on the wishes of the slain.. Murder creates enemies untold...

Prologue

Tendrils of smoke streamed from the incenses, hovering over
the ground in wispy strands. In the eternal dusk of ThiarImeall, there was a
strange comfort to be found in the half-light cast by the Sun that never rose
or set in the sky. Distant and unreachable, its light forever slashed across
the lower horizon where the Noon Gate led to ThiarImeall, casting the land in
stark silhouette. But the darkness did nothing to mask the graves from her
night-visioned eyes. Tiny graves mingled with those of adults that seemed so
unnatural, particularly to a race unfamiliar with death.

“My Ancestors, who did this? Who committed this atrocity
against our village?”

The Dusk Islands were an archipelago near the EarthWater
Gate, the gate-way between ThiarImeall and ThuaidhImeall. Largely marshland
like most places in the Realm of Water, they were covered in rice grass,
paddies and swamp.

Getting to her feet, Aki stood amid the bald cypresses and
weeping willows, looking out over what was left of her village. Like most
Yugure Junin villages it consisted of networks of short footbridges, homes
built on thick beams, shallow river ways and streets of water. But now the
buildings were destroyed and left in ruin. Blood and viscera tainted the
waterways.

Once the home of mostly rice farmers and fishermen, though
there had been a smattering of soldiers among them, it now felt empty and
lonely. As a people, both races of Junin were skilled martial artists and
determined fighters, especially where their families and homes were concerned.
She could not begin to wrap her mind around what type of creature had
slaughtered so many, so efficiently.

Had it been demons, devils, oni or yōkai, she seriously
doubted that the village itself would have still been standing. The same could
be said if it was an attack by Yoake Junin, although the peasants would have
been taken as prisoners rather than indiscriminately killed. Something wasn't
adding up.

Gathering her things together, Aki stumbled through the maze
of empty huts. Junin, she did not need as much sleep as those of the Mortal
Races but she'd had no respite since her return. She'd been burying bodies and
observing the proper rituals of burial ever since.

Sorrow weighed heavy on her heart as her zōri sank into the
blood-soaked ground, the rice straw weave of the sandals turning red with each
step. In some places it was so deep that it stained her white tabi socks,
turning them a gruesome red-pink that strangely matched her red hakama. The
flowing pants, like her once white kimono she wore them over, bore the marks of
her toil, covered in smudges of dirt and blood.

Despite the death around her, she felt strangely numb as she
made her way to the nearby waterfall and disrobed to bathe. Pulling the single
white ribbon from her loose ponytail, she let her long, magenta hair fall loose
past her waist. Covering her slightly pointed ears, it shadowed her face and
hid her tears as she proceeded to wash the soot, dirt and blood from her skin.

She could not yet mourn. She would not. Anger festered in
her heart making her gold eyes flash with a coldly detached fury. She had lost
everyone. Her entire village was gone. Neighbors, friends, family...
slaughtered by an un-known enemy. What was worse, she had not been there to
protect them.

When she finished her ritual bathing, Aki carefully dressed
in a clean white kosode, the loose shirt came past her waist and the sleeves
fit close under her white hitoe. Tying the red strings running through the
jacket's lapel to hold it closed, she pulled on a clean red hakama and tied a
wide red obi about her waist.

Moving further into the forest, she made her way with
familiar ease to the sacred pool that wound its way to the shrine. A secret
place with waters so still that they reflected the surrounding trees in their
perpetual autumnal color like a mirror, she set her fresh pair of tabi and her
zōri on the shore and stepped into the cool water.

The waters swirled up and around her, carrying with them the
voices of her people, her Ancestors and the kami that were the spirits of all
things. With careful steps, she opened herself to the waters of ThiarImeall and
sought their guidance. All too soon they answered with visions of events she
had not been present to witness. A shadow in the dusk and a creature at his
command that she did not know.

Startled, Aki took a step back, her eyes narrowing. She
recognized the shadow.

Then the spirits filled her with their howling rage, their
anguish of loss. Thoroughly possessed, she felt them touch her spiritual powers
and ask inter-cession as they revealed all that had happened. Peasants, women
and children cut down like sheaves of wheat. Mercilessly slaughtered, most
before they even knew the danger was present. Blood filled her sight, pain
wracked her body. Collapsing to her hands and knees in the water, she squeezed
her eyes shut tight.

Struggling to catch her breath, Aki cautiously opened her
eyes. For a long moment she stared into her reflection, watching her tears of
blood send ripples across the water.

When she felt she could stand, she warily got to her feet
and withdrew from the sacred pool. After pulling on her tabi socks, she slipped
into her zōri and took off running back into the village. Now, she knew.

After retrieving her katana, bow and quiver full of sacred
arrows from the shrine, she climbed the stone stairs beyond the grave mounds
and empty homes. A steady incline up into the hillside, she made her way to the
castle at the top, the Moon Palace of the Midori Clan that ruled their small
island.

As befitting its name, the image of the moon and the Moon
God, Tsukuyomi, dominated the engravings and statuary. The tiled roofs and
stone path-ways were a vivid emerald green intricately laid against white
crushed shells and marble. There were peaceful pools full of koi. A large pond
filled with lotus flowers contained small islands and beautiful pavilion
buildings. Sprawling pebble and water gardens spanned in between. Simpler
gardens featuring bridges, rocks and gravel surrounded the temple balanced at
the other end of the castle complex by a rustically simple tea garden with a
stepping stone path that lined by stone lanterns led to the tea house and the
washbasin used for ritual cleansing.

The emptiness echoed her footfalls as she crossed the open
yards bathed in moonlight and navigated halls dressed in ghostly half-light.
When she reached the Moon Chamber, the heart of the castle where its open roof
allowed the fixed Dusk Moon to shine directly into the Moon Pool, she fell to
her knees with her fists braced on the floor, her head bowed, her weapons lain
beside her.

“My lord, forgive my intrusion.”

Dressed in a silvery white kimono and hakama fastened by a
wide icy blue obi at the waist and the ankle of each leg tied off, creating a
kind of ballooning effect that ended in soft black ankle-high boots, Lord
Ryuunori was tall and slender. His straight silver hair was so long that it
came down past his buttocks except where it was cut in bangs over his forehead.
Although pushed behind his narrow pointy ears, combined with the tilt of his
head it managed to shade his eyes from view as he turned from the torii gate
framing the pool.

“Are the dead taken care of?”

“Yes, my lord.”

He had a heart-shaped face with two bright indigo slashes
tattooed on each cheekbone, a mark of his nobility. Like others of their race,
his skin was trans-lucent, radiating a glow like moonlight. In fact, his entire
aura seemed filled with the cool pale mist, radiating a subdued anger.

“Have you spoken to the Ancestors? Or the kami?” Ryuunori
lifted his head. The movement made his gold eyes flash with a fury that belied
his calm voice. “Have the Gods themselves told you who slaughtered the
village?”

Nodding, Aki didn't look up. “The Ancestors were eager to
reveal the murderers, my lord. The Soulless One and one who travels in his
company.”

“The Soulless One has dared to return to ThiarImeall.” It
wasn't a question and Ryuunori's calm tone thinned. “And like the true coward
he is, he comes when I am not here to defend my people.”

“Nor I, my lord.”

“I cannot abandon the Tuatha Dé Talamh. If they are left
without guidance, they will be destroyed by the humans of Sorne.”

“As it was foreseen in the Moon Pool, my lord.”

“In the Material Realm, the mountainous lands of
TuaisceartTalamh fall under my governance and protection. As do the people who
live there.”

Leaning back with her fists on her lap, Aki nodded. The
world of Kore` be-longed to the First Races long before the Second were even a
glimmer in the Gods’ eyes. Although the Yoake and Yugure Junin were a First
Race and originally came from beyond the Golden Veil Between Worlds, their
nobles considered themselves lords of various regions and realms in the Material
Realm for better or worse.

“I have no wish to see the world so many of my Ancestors
died protecting the Material Realm for succumb to the very darkness they were
slaughtered defeating.” Turning from her, Ryuunori looked up at the
never-changing moon. “Nor do I wish for my people to be slaughtered by a
soulless coward. Do you know where he is, Aki?”

“It seems he is no longer here, my lord. The Ancestors only
know what they witnessed so long as one of our people remained alive to bear
witness.” She lifted her head but kept her gaze respectfully averted, their
gold color gleaming, and her fists tight with anger. “But the kami say he left
with the monster he brought with him soon afterward.”

“Monster. What kind of beast has the Soulless taken up
with?”

“I do not know, my lord. It was something the kami did not
recognize as natural. It was the monster that killed at the Soulless' command.”

She fell forward with her hands braced on the floor in front
of her. “I came to ask your permission to pass through the torii into the
Material Realm. I ask permission to hunt down the Soulless and his companion
and exact revenge for the death of my village.”

“You are a miko, Aki. A shrine maiden. You do not need my
permission to pass into the Material Realm, regardless of your reasoning.”

“I see to avenge the village. I have given the souls of the
slain my word to do so.”

“I understand.” Ryuunori continued to watch the moon. “You
do not need my permission to pass through the torii. But you have my blessing.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

Standing, Aki slid her sheathed katana into the sash about
her waist and shouldered her bow and quiver.

“Before you venture into the Material Realm, there is
something you should know.”

“My lord?”

“There is one in the Material Realm who seeks to open the
First Gate.”

Aki stopped and looked up. “The Gate to Abaddon...?”

“The same. Three of the Seven Doorways have been opened. The
Gate it-self is already weaker for it and demons and other evil spirits enter
the Material Realm with greater ease.”

“As the Doorways are opened, the fabric of the Golden Veil
will continue to weaken and tear.”

“You have chosen the path of vengeance for our people. But
you are still a miko. You are still a shaman and it is still your duty to fight
demons, whether here or in the Material Realm.”

“I will not fail in my duties, my lord. Nor will I fail to
exact the revenge I have sworn on behalf of our people.” Aki climbed the steps
past Ryuunori, her eyes on the moonlight shining down and through the torii. “I
will return to you, my lord.”

She stepped under the gate into the Dusk Moon's reflection
on the water. The cool light became blinding as it opened the way into the
Material Realm, bringing her through.

“No, Aki, you will not.”

Write a Review
Did you enjoy my story? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review! Thanks,
AJCulpepper

Roy Jenner:
I was pleased to join the action where this B-17 was limping back across the English Channel defying all odds. Obviously written by a person more than familiar with the interior of the Flying Fortresses that were familiar in the skies of Southern England during World War 2. Plenty of action here ...

Marijana1:
The melancholy present throughout this story has the power to influence and etch into the minds of the readers, to stay there and refuse to leave even after they have finished reading the story. This is a deep, powerful story, making the readers wonder about everything – about love, about their e...

Lauren Sanby:
This is an excellent story. Very gripping and keeps your attention throughout. Hoping the author is writing a sequel because I'd love to read more about Rhi and Andreas and find out what else Rhi is able to do with her powers.

genlynne2379:
I read the other review of this book and I must say that I disagree with it wholeheartedly. I do not believe the author put the apostrophes in the names just to be unique, but because the characters are supposedly of a different race than humans. They are Anmah. They should have different names a...

rudyoxborough46:
An action-packed, mystical adventure awaits anyone wishing to read this novel. I’m amazed at how well you’ve managed to flesh out the characters in this book, and I hope to read more of your work.I’ve read books about goblins and elves and all that mumbo-jumbo before, and most accounts of these c...

Erin Crowley:
The concept here is really strong, but the execution is definitely lacking. Tenses, grammar, etc are all off, with at least one or more errors per 'Page' on my phone. The writing style is almost broken- sentences move into each other awkwardly, and are filled with an excess of "filler words", lik...

Shweta Somwanshi:
I just chose to read this out of nowhere and now I can't stop. Hats off to the author who made the reader swoon away with words so beautifully! I loved how I was able to imagine everything so explicitly because the writing was simple and easily comprehensive with a touch of complexity somewhere b...

Alani Foreigner:
I absolutely loved how you created this story. It isn't like the other cliché stories I've ever read. I had just started reading it yesterday and just had to finish it. The main characters are grotesquely awesome and I fell in love with them. If you're into fantasy and stuff I can guarantee that ...

littlebunnypoopoos:
Omg this was so amazing! The ending was a little bad and predictable. But otherwise, I need a second book or I'll die :D The character development was excellent and the whole romance, action, and suspense was superb

ynez2005:
I LOVE THIS BOOK SOOOOO MUCH!!!!Though you really need to make another book,more Princesses!!! Whoooo!!!Girl Power!!!Mabey it could even be Devona's BFF???That would make it even better!!!Plus can you pleeease make Akki come back,together with Thea and Authur amd the whole family is back!Other th...

Giuliana Cassetta:
My face is full of tears, I never cried like now with a book or even a movie. I loved every single chapter. I truly don't know what to say, I'm out of words and my eyes hurt from crying. Such an bittersweet story, it's so wonderful. One of my favorites for sure. Keep it up!

re8622:
The Last Exodus quickly grabbed my attention. Almost as soon as I started reading the story, I couldn't put it down. I found that the ideas the author put forth were very thought provoking given the turmoil we have seen gradually rise over the last several years. I felt that I could understand th...

Hudson:
Your story was fantastic Erin! The Rising Sun was one of the first stories I read on Inkitt, and I have to say I don't regret the three to four days I spent pouring through the story.Probably the biggest strength I see in your writing is your characterisation of Eliana, Oriens, and the rest of th...

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